• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Have there really been any improvements in hi fi over the last 40 years???

jamesie

jamesie

New Member
Hi all i was wondering your thoughts on whether or not hi fi equipment has improved or not over the last 40 years , the reason i ask is that i have recently gone backwards 35 years with my audio system ,
i was running a Cambridge audio azur 340a amplifier with a 340c cd player and a pair of Tangent Clarity 4 speakers ,, this is all well respected gear and has a fantastic sound and as a system it is all well matched ,all 5 star rated with good reviews.
however i have just changed this set up to a 1978 Technics su-7700 amp , still with the Cambridge azur cd player and a pair of 1978 Technics sb-x5 speakers ,and this vintage system is far superior in every detail ,the sound is crisp clear detailed and the bass is low but tight as it should be , my only criticism of the amp is that the loudness muddies it a little but this feature isnt normally used anyway.

so have we really made any progress in the last 40 years????
 
Register to hide this ad
Well, before this thread blows up I'll say that absolutely there have been improvements, especially in loudspeakers if you take into account that there are a few examples of vintage ones that largely hold up, such as Quad ESLs and large Altecs.

My stance is that we've come a very long way in 40 years. But maybe not as far in the last 15 or so.

Also, I now use a computer based server that is the most useful source I've ever encountered. It's the biggest change in my listening habits since I've started this hobby.

I think solid state gear has improvement immensely since the mid '70s. Tube gear prior to that was very good, though. I don't know that it was bested for many years, and in some cases, still holds up. Some. Not all, and not even most.

But back to loudspeakers, I don't know of any vintage speaker besides something like the Quads or Apogees, that competes with the best of today. The mid/upper tier of audio is fanastic right now, and high-performance gear from 10 years ago is readily affordable, gear that to my ears is far superior to anything made in the '70s, at least solid state. I believe it to be the golden age...today. Not the '70s.
 
Yes, other than style points, today's equipment is superior to yesteryears' IMO, especially with loudspeakers and clean power.
 
Maybe your problem isnt with modern gear but with your Cambridge audio gear. Just because you dont like one modern amplifier it doesnt mean all modern amplifiers sound bad.

This thread will self distruct in 3..2..1....
 
No, there haven't. In fact, I'd argue that the wax cylinder was the last notable improvement in sound quality.
 
so would a late seventies amplifier that cost £240 in 1978 be superior in quality to an amplifier that cost £229 in 2010
the same with my sb-x5 speakers , they cost £320 in 1978!! and on equivalent values today that would be a modern day equivalent of £1280
i do understand that modern day source cannot be beaten and it has come a long way since the days of cassettes , but amplification and speakers apart from huge amounts of power being attainable from an amp nowadays and speakers being able to handle copious amounts of power without frying ,
i have never owned huge power systems based on the reasoning that a good quality system that is full in sound with good detailing doesnt need to be hugely powerful.
i know lots of speakers nowadays have much greater high end response than in earlier years but what we are talking about are frequencies that are not audible to the human ear ,

hi jeremy , i didnt have a problem with my cambridge audio amp it had a very full and detailed sound and for the money an excellent amp , i was just a little shocked when i hooked up my vintage gear that it put my modern system to shame , ia am not new to seventies and eighties hi fi i just havent owned or listened to any for about 20 years maybe i had just forgotten how good it sounded.
 
Last edited:
First you have to define 'improvement'.

Convenience? Yes.

Price? Yes.

Audio quality? Subjective.

Then you have to define 'hi-fi'.

And I won't go there because hell no.
 
BTW, I've spent a bit of time listening to Cambridge Audio gear and have never had an ounce of positive feeling towards it, despite my idea that current audio is where much of the best stuff resides. One comparison is a very small study.

Many of the reviews of Cambridge Audio gear take into account that its an entry level product. As such, it is treated in the review in that context. That's just how the subjective review press works. A 4 star rating applies to the tier of products it resides in. But that doesn't mean another product from another time won't stand up to it.

It's easy to beat entry level modern with vintage gear of a higher calibre. Its very hard to be top of the line modern with anything but a very few exceptions in vintage audio, unless you are after a very particular take on things for which time has sent audio down a different path. Like large format horn loaded loudspeakers. If you want that, that path exists in vintage land largely...though you could get, say, a new JBL that's around $15,000-$20,000 that uses a large horn, and probably best even those vintage offerings, in that camp, by a very large degree:

http://www.jblsynthesis.com/products/details/126
 
cwall99 said:
No, there haven't. In fact, I'd argue that the wax cylinder was the last notable improvement in sound quality.
Click to expand...

I'd argue that the wax cylinder was actually a big step backward in sound quality. Before Edison invented the phonograph all we had was live amplified sound, and as Harry Pearson has told us, it doesn't get any better than that. :D

To the OP's question, I'd say that there's been considerable improvement in sound quality over the last 40 years. I notice it most in speakers, but the other elements of the reproducing chain have also improved. Digital sound has improved even more than speakers in the 30 years since the CD launched. We've gone from having mostly unlistenable CD players and discs in 1982 to the excellent sound quality that today's best digital sources and recordings can provide.
 
IMHO:
I would say that vinyl reproduction has come to state of the art in the last 15 years.
Amplification, I don't see much in way of fidelity improvement during that time, but reliability, convenience, OK.
Speakers - A Lot more good ones now.
Digital - I think we're just getting it right in the last few years.
 
I think as less equipment designers have heard live sound, the 'sound' of loudspeakers and digital devices isn't that good. wide freq. response isn't as wide, but dynamic range is improved. Top end poweramps sound better as faster components are now available, but the tweaking of a design is hampered by the lack of live listening. How many of you have ever heard a professional big band with 35+ musicians? Does your gear reproduce it as well?
 
Agreed with the others who've posted with regards to speakers. Very generally speaking, the average modern speaker has better power handling capabilities with lower woofer distortion, and better HF dispersion than the average speaker of 40 years ago. That said, there are some decades-old, classic designs that still hold up (even surpass) modern speakers to this day. However these exceptions tend to be limited to a perhaps a couple dozen or so top-end units in their day.
 
Last edited:
One example of an improvement is transmission line speakers. Typically old designs are very inefficient. They sound great if done well, but take a LOT of power. Today, you can achieve similar, or better results, and have a much more efficient speaker. It opens up amplification options.

There are lots of improvements, and I think the best one of all is the fact that parts such as capacitors and drivers are being built to better standards these days, allowing designers to push the envelope even further now. Not to mention cost to produce is lower than ever with better manufacturing techniques and equipment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom